Ninja Competition: Emerge Academy

 Avalon competed in her first ninja competition since before COVID this past weekend on Saturday, September 18th.  She started a ninja class with her friend Elodie at Emerge Academy.  They were required to start in the beginner class, but they were moved up to intermediate after the first class.  Avalon loves the class and had a blast at the competition!  She is so excited to be doing ninja again!

 She did amazing and we are so proud of her!  She took 3rd place in the 13U girls and earned a spot in the North Central Ninja Series (NCNS) finals at Ninja U in November.  

Here is a video of her run as I saw it from the spectator viewing area above:

Here are a few pictures as well:

 And the awards ceremony:

First Day of School: 6th and 8th grade - August 26

 The kids are heading back to school in person for the first time in 1.5 years, since March 2020.  Avalon is really excited and Archer is a bit nervous.  Archer is starting middle school, so it is a lot of new changes this year!  

Archer and I went into the school a couple of days early to get a tour of the school and walk through his class schedule.  On the first day of school, Archer said he is so glad we did the tour because he was feeling a lot less nervous.  It was very helpful to him to know what to expect and have know where all his classes were located.  He even drew a map of the school when he got home noting where each classroom was on the map.  Check it out.  

The first day of school was August 26th, but the kids also got to attend an orientation day on August 25th because it was the first time for both of them at Ames Middle School.  Yep, Avalon's first year at the Ames Middle School is in 8th grade since she was remote all of 7th grade and she attended 6th grade at Summit Middle School in Coquitlam, British Columbia in Canada.  

Kids Description: 5th and 7th grade

 Avalon is in 7th grade and Archer is in 5th grade! Avalon loves theater, singing, dancing, acting, reading (favorite:Space Case Mystery Series by Stuart Gibbs), playing Among Us, watching Disney Channel shows, being outdoors, skiing, snowboarding, science (space and rocks), ninja training, jumping on the trampoline, choir, band (trombone), climbing and playing with her friends! Archer loves chess, playing video games (especially online with his cousin Dorian), playing Among Us jumping on the trampoline, Minecraft legos, hot wheels, board games, jumping, running, climbing and playing outside! The kids are both really hoping to get a pet and have been doing lots of research about about pets that we could have that live primarily in cages including chinchillas, guinea pigs, and rabbits!